


It'll be Ok

by Burrahobbit



Series: "Simpler" verse [4]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Bonding, Brotherly Affection, Gen, Papyrus is Gaster, Papyrus-centric, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Sans Is Gaster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-28
Packaged: 2018-10-16 02:26:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10561846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burrahobbit/pseuds/Burrahobbit
Summary: Papyrus has to deal with the aftermath of remembering Gaster.





	1. Tea & Cookies

**Author's Note:**

> Directly ties in with 'Memories.' These are just going to be short stories.

Asgore sat in Papyrus' new apartment, sipping on a cup of tea.

"Thank you so much for the tea bags, by the way," the skeleton said, sitting down across from him with his own cup of tea. A tray of cookies was put between them.

"It's no problem. Consider them a housewarming gift," Asgore replied happily.

The two drank their tea in comfortable silence, Papyrus thinking deeply about something.  
"What's on your mind, friend?" Asgore inquired, putting down his cup.

Papyrus stilled, metaphorical gears turning in his skull.

"I- I didn't just bring you here to hang out. There's something we need to discuss."

The ex-king's face grew serious, but gentle even so.

"What is it?"

"Do you remember Gaster?"

"Partially. It's... come back to me in pieces. Why?" He paused. "You would have been to young to remember him, yes?"

"That's not- entirely true."

Papyrus shut his sockets, taking a deep breath before he opened them again to stare at his rapidly cooling tea. "The day that Gaster died, there was an- accident in the lab. It caused him to split apart, and be forgotten in the Underground.

"Except- there were two pieces of him, larger and stronger than the rest. They formed two- children."

Papyrus looked up to see Asgore's astonished expression, except, it wasn't there. Just one of worry and realization.

"My brother and I, we're... what's left of him."

The boss monster stood from the table, rounding it to approach Papyrus. For a split second, the skeleton was frightened. Then, large paws were enveloping him into a hug.

"I want you to know, I will never expect you to live up to his name, nor make up for his mistakes." Asgore pulled away, leaving one giant hand on Papyrus' shoulder. "Thank you for telling me this."

"Of course," the other monster replied almost immediately.

"Gaster, he... you were one of his best friends. I can _feel_ that, even now."

Asgore laughed softly, taking his hand away.

"Even so, I would never try to fix what happened. For all his prideful mistakes, at least something good came out of his mess."

Somehow, the furry monster had managed to reach the heart of what had been bothering him most. Papyrus nodded, not able to translate his gratitude into words.

Asgore looked over at the clock sitting across from the table and sighed. "I should get going, but, if possible, I would like to do this again. You are a very interesting person, Papyrus, and it seems like we have a lot in common. Goodbye."

With that, he left, and Papyrus felt as though a weigh had been lifted from him.


	2. Spaghetti Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Undyne & Papyrus have a cooking session.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Undyne is..... too good.

Undyne yelled loudly as she chopped vegetables fiercely, Papyrus laughing beside her.

They were actually following a recipe this time, but that didn't mean she couldn't be loud and terrifying!

Papyrus was much more gentle, but no less loud than her. Gladly, Alphys was still at work, and didn't have to deal with their cooking.

The noodles were cooked, the sauce made, and everything put together at the end.

Both skeleton and fish were making leaps of progress in cooking - probably the most important part was actually learning how to cook.

The spaghetti was delicious.

Two plates were made, and the friends sat down to have lunch.

Even though this was supposed to be a relaxing, Papyrus still seemed high-strung - if she didn't know better, Undyne might have called it nervousness.

"Pap, what's wrong? Something on your mind?"

Papyrus seemed startled at the sentence, looking away.

"I- I just-" The skeleton sighed, dragging a gloved hand across his cheekbone. "Sorry. I thought this would be easier, with you."

"What would be easier?"

"There's something I need to tell you. I've, sort of been putting it off because I- I'm not sure how you'll react."

Undyne put a hand on one of his, staring at him with a look of complete confidence.

"Papyrus, you know I'll love you no matter what. You're, like, my best friend." She took her hand back. "So, I don't care that you're gay, that's not some-"

"Woah, woah, wait, that's- that's not what I was going to tell you!"

Undyne seemed confused for a second, then extremely apologetic.

"Oh my gosh, Papyrus, I'm so fuckin' sorry man-"

"It's fine, Undyne, just, let me talk."

The fish woman nodded, huffing out a small, embarrassed laugh.

"Yeah, go on. What is it?"

Papyrus stilled, getting together the thoughts in his mind.

"There used to be a Royal Scientist, before Alphys. His name was Dr. Gaster."

Undyne nodded. "Yeah, I... vaguely remember him. I was pretty young when he disappeared, though."

"He- he died, in an accident, and it... spilt him. Sans and I, we- we're parts of who he was. I just wanted you to know-"

Undyne lunged across the table, pulling him into a death-grip hug. "You punk. I'd never change my opinion of you just cuz of some shit that happened before you were even born- er, created? Formed? Whatever."

She let him go, sitting back down and noticing there was now spaghetti on her black shirt.

"Ah, I gotta get changed. But don't you go anywhere! We still got plenty of hangin' out to do!" She gave him a toothy grin, then went into her room.

Papyrus smiled to himself, cleaning his and Undyne's plates as he considered how lucky he was to have such a good friend.


	3. Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus has a nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote all these chapters so far in rapid succession, so I'm just gonna post this now. :/

Papyrus awoke from a nightmare, hands shaking as he tried to calm himself down. Teal light from his eyes filled the room.

 _It's all my fault._  
It's all my fault.  
It's all my-

"Hey, idiot," Flowey said, pulling the skeleton out of his daze.

"S-sorry," Papyrus mumbled, crossing his arms. "Just a bad dream."

Flowey huffed in annoyance. "Well, you might as well talk about it, since now we're both awake."

Papyrus smiled. That was the closest Flowey usually got to comforting - offering to listen.

"It was... a memory."

"A bad one, I'm guessing."  
With a sad laugh, Papyrus nodded in agreement. "It was a long time ago."

"Obviously it's still bothering you."

With a sigh, Papyrus looked away. He'd been putting off telling Flowey for a while - about what had happened, who he was.

"I... used to be someone else, and I made a terrible mistake that hurt a lot of people."

"I'm sure it was an accident. I can't imagine you doing something that bad on purpose."

"It was an accident, but it was still my fault. If I hadn't been so careless, maybe..." Papyrus paused, looking away.

"What did you do?"

"I let my magic get out of control."

Flowey scoffed. "You've got the best control of your magic out of every monster. Even Asgore isn't as good as you."

A smile made it's way into the skeleton's face, and he turned back to Flowey.

"I appreciate you saying that."

"That's not a compliment or anything! It's just the truth."

Papyrus laid back down on his bed, thinking for a few minutes.

"There's something I should mention," he said, staring at Flowey seriously. "When I said I was someone else, I didn't mean figuratively. I was literally someone else, until he - I - was... split apart."

Flowey said nothing, so Papyrus continued on.

"I was the Royal Scientist for the longest time, and then-" Papyrus felt almost as if he was choking on his own words as he tried to speak. "And then there was an accident. He died, and Sans and I were created."

There was a chunk of silence as Flowey thought this over.

"You were Gaster," he stated. "I remember you, from when I was a kid."

Papyrus laughed, shifting in the bed to get a better look at his friend in the darkness.

"I remember you too. And I remember... them."

Flowey flinched involuntarily.

"Sorry."

The flower shook his petals. "It's fine. I should be over it."

"But you're not."

"They were my best friend," Flowey said in a near whisper. "I know it's stupid of me to say, but we were so close, that I almost forgave them for getting us both killed."

They both thought silently once more, then Flowey turned away.

"Goodnight, Papyrus," he said, closing his petals to sleep.

Papyrus sighed, letting the lights in his eyes go out, then closing them.


	4. A Door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk and Papyrus share some important things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this the first time I've actually written Frisk in this series??? I feel like it is. Weird...

Papyrus and Frisk's footsteps echoed through the caverns of Waterfall as they walked, the former of which was silently messing with his gloves.

"So, why couldn't Mettaton come himself, if you don't mind me asking?"

Frisk shrugged. 'He's pretty busy right now setting up for a second concert. Plus, since the first concert went so well, he's planning a tour of the surface,' they signed.

"Well, you're very nice for offering to get his things."

The human smiled, adjusting their bag slightly. 'I figured it was the least I could do, after I messed up his EX body.'

"I'm sure he forgives you. After all, you saved the whole Underground!"

Frisk looked down at their feet with a quiet sigh. 'I... didn't, at first. I've never told anyone this, but... I had to kill Asgore. It felt so bad, and I wanted a happy ending, so I reset.'

Papyrus thought for a moment, then put a hand on Frisk's shoulder. "Do not worry, my friend! You've used your resets much more responsibly than Flowey!"

Startled, the human stared at Papyrus, hesitating in their answer.

'You... know Flowey could reset?'

"I don't remember all of the resets, and most of the ones I do remember are hazy, but yes."

'Does... Sans remember?'

"I'm not sure, to be honest. We don't really talk about that kind of stuff. You'd have to ask him."

They continued walking for a few more minutes until they reached their destination. There were a few paths leading from one main room - two to the ghosts' snail farm and houses, and one to Undyne's house.

Frisk told him to wait there while they got the things out, saying that Mettaton might not be comfortable with someone else invading his space. Papyrus easily agreed to wait.

He glanced around at the rocky room, his thoughts silent for once. He could hear the distant calls of echo flowers, repeating and repeating forever.

It was the only thing he didn't like about Waterfall - the echo flowers creeped him out.

Papyrus turned his head toward a path to his left, and suddenly felt paralyzed.

There was a feeling he couldn't describe drawing him in towards the path, he barely even registered he was moving, walking through air - both literally and figuratively.

Before he even knew it, the skeleton was standing in front of a grey door in a hallway he'd never seen.

Now that he was there, it was as if he couldn't move again, this time out of apprehension.

He must have been standing there for a while, because he felt a small hand tug on his. Frisk looked worried, a frown on their usually neutral or happy face.

'I didn't know it could reappear.'

"You've been inside?"

Frisk nodded. 'I don't know if you want to go inside.'

"I think I have to." Papyrus looked back at the door, steeling himself for what he could find.

The door moved more easily than he thought it would, pushing into a plain, square room.

In the middle was a familiar figure staring back at him, except he was... distorted and warped, like a hazy reflection.

If Papyrus had a heart, he was sure it would have stopped. In leu of that, his magic pulsed unpleasantly.

Frisk walked in behind him and held their friend's hand tightly.

Papyrus could only stand in the room for a few moments. After that, it became too much to look at a piece of Gaster - of himself - in such a broken state.

He closed the door and slid down the wall, sitting down with a huff.

'Did you... know him?' Frisk signed, sitting beside him.

The skeleton looked down at his shaking hands, balling them into fists.

"I... it's complicated. In a way, he is me." There was a pause. "I used to be a piece of a man named Gaster. He was a smart man, but he... made a horrible mistake."

Frisk put a hand on Papyrus' shoulder for a second before signing, 'Don't blame yourself for the actions of a different person, even if it's someone you once were. You're different now.'

Papyrus smiled and hugged them. Then he stood, helping his smaller friend up.

"Anyways, let's get Mettaton's things! We wouldn't want to be late for dinner. Toriel would be worried sick!"

The two filled their bags with the necessary items, and made their way through the nearly empty Waterfall.


	5. Walking and Talking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus and Sans talk about things. They both decide that, maybe, things might just be okay - or, if they're really lucky, even better than okay.

Sans and Papyrus ate the last bits of popcorn as they walked back from the movies. They were heading towards Papyrus' house, since his was closer to the theater anyways.

"I can't believe you cried," Sans commented, looking up at his brother.

Papyrus huffed, taking his hand out of the plastic container momentarily. "Look, it was sad! They all died!"

"It's a Star Wars movie."

"And? I didn't complain when you cried over Star Trek."

"Excuse you, Tasha's the best character to ever grace the Star Trek series and I refuse to believe that happened."

Papyrus laughed, Sans following suit soon after.

"I had fun. Thank you for coming with me," Papyrus said, handing the almost empty container to Sans when he attempted to reach in.

"No prob."

Papyrus picked at the exposed holes in his hands, looking over at his brother.

"I just... I'm proud of you. You've been doing so much better."

Sans shrugged, his mouth full of slightly-old popcorn.

"Eh, 's no big deal," he said between bites.

Papyrus fake gagged. "Ew! Chew with your mouth closed!"

Sans laughed again. Papyrus' apartment building was within sight.

"Pap, I've... been meaning to talk to you about some stuff," Sans commented as nonchalantly as he could, slowing down his pace.

"What is it, brother? Something wrong?"

The short skeleton shook his head. "No, nothin' wrong. I just... wanted to know how you were doing."

The question seemed suspiciously important.

"Sans, what is this about?"

With a sigh, said monster handed the popcorn container to his brother.

"We- we haven't really talked about... y'know..."

"No, Sans, I'm afraid I'm not following."

"We haven't talked about Gaster."  
Papyrus stills, stopping in the middle of the empty sidewalk, and Sans stops and turns to look at him.

"Oh," Papyrus says simply, looking down at the ground. "I'm... fine. It's fine."

"I know it's not."

"I don't think I want to talk about this."

"I think we should."

"I told you, it's fine! There's nothing else to discuss."

Sans frowned, crossing his arms. "Pap, we never talk about this stuff, and I... I just wanted to stop being such a fucking coward and have us talk about our feelings for two seconds!"

The air was still for a long moment, then Papyrus sighed, cradling the container of popcorn closer.

"I've been having bad dreams about him, okay? Nothing particularly new."

Sans uncrossed his arms, looking confused.

"Since when do you have nightmares?"

"Since forever? Why do you think I only ever slept four hours every night?"

From Sans' reaction, you'd almost think he'd gotten hit with something physical, instead of just words.

"I... had no idea. I'm sorry."

Papyrus deflated, the anger rushing out of him.

"I'm sorry too. I should have told you."

"It's okay. I never told you about anything either."

"Like what?" Papyrus asked innocently. The skeleton didn't know all his brother's secrets, of course, but Sans wasn't really the best secret-keeper.

"Like the room behind our house I always keep locked."

Papyrus rolled his eyes. "You think I don't already know what's in there? You keep the key in a drawer in your room - it's not exactly hard to find out."

"What else did you know about?" It wasn't an angry question - more curious.

"I knew you and Alphys were doing some kind of work together, and I know you were the Judge. That's it. What... what about you."

Sans looked down at his shoes, then back up at his brother.  
"I knew about Flowey."

Suddenly, Papyrus feels as though he's had the wind knocked out of him. Surely, he couldn't have figured out who Papyrus had been meeting-

"One of the resets I remember, you... you mentioned a flower you talked to. I thought you were talking about the echo flowers. After meeting Flowey, though, I figured out what you meant."

Papyrus almost feels the urge to apologize, but he doesn't.

"Why were you hanging out with him? I get that now he's changed, but... from what Frisk told me, he didn't sound like a very good person."

Did that mean he didn't remember what Flowey had done? Maybe Sans' memory of the resets was even fuzzier than his own.

"He's my friend."

"But _why?"_

"Look, he wasn't always a bad person that, okay?!"

There was a tense pause.

"I'm sorry," Sans said. "I shouldn't have pried."

"It's alright. I shouldn't have yelled."

Papyrus hesitated for a moment before enveloping his brother in a hug.

"We're not very good at this, are we?" Sans asked, his voice smaller than normal.

"Not really. But, it's like the humans say: 'practice makes perfect.'"

Sans breathed in deeply, then out again.

"Tell me everything's gonna be okay, Pap."

Papyrus smiled, holding his brother tightly. "Everything is going to be okay, brother."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end of these lil' stories, unless I come up with something else really good.  
> I'm gonna be focusing on other parts of this series now, including maybe some mischellanious shorts? We'll see.


End file.
